A Paradigm's Dawn
by The J-Man
Summary: Lan and Mayl Hikari now live peacefully with their Net Navis, Roll and Megaman. But when Megaman and Roll find themselves the subjects of a daring experiment, the peace is shattered, and the populus goes through a monumental shift of thought
1. Just Another Day

Whaddya know, before I even finish my first fanfic (West Island Chaos, a Sonic fanfic) I get the idea for another good one. I'm not going to waste any time here in my little author's space, except to say that I'm attempting to be a bit bold with this piece here. RR, tell me what you think. I hope it's good

One more thing, this fic is about 12 years after the events of EXE4. That means, if I'm not mistaken, Lan and Mayl are 23-24 years old.

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 1 - Just Another Day...

_This is great... I'm already behind schedule as it is. I don't think I can afford to be late again_. Lan buttoned up his shirt as he made his way toward the front door of the house. He made one last check of his attire with a mirror on the way to the door. His short brown hair was nicely combed, his shirt neatly tucked, and his face clean-shaven. Placing his hand on the doorknob, he froze as he recollected a thought in the back of his mind. "Megaman..."

Turning around, Lan made his way through the hallway extending out of the living room and entered his room. Slowly stepping to avoid making any noise, he searched around the room a bit till his eyes fell upon a small blue device on the nightstand next to the bed. Elated, Lan quickly picked it up and pressed a few buttons, causing it to whir to life in his hands. The small LCD screen on the device lit up and displayed the image of a human-looking face in a blue, armored suit.

"Huh?" A voice uttered through the device's speakers, sounding a tad drowsy. The image looked around a bit before centering its focus on Lan. In a louder voice, the image seemed to speak. "Oh, hey Lan, what's up?"

"Shh," Lan whispered quickly. Megaman was speaking much too loud.

"Huh, what's wrong Lan?" After looking around a moment, the image turned into one of nervousness. "Seven Twenty?! Lan, you're going to be late!"

"I told you to be quiet. I know I'm going to be late."

Megaman let out a sigh as he observed Lan turning around to head out of the door. Lan would always oversleep when he was younger. Fortunately, Megaman had always been there to wake him up on time. But things were different now, seeing as there were one more person's needs to worry about...

"I wish you were more discreet Megaman," Lan whispered as he opened the door in the room, "now let's get out of here before--"

"Before what?" a distinctively stern voice spoke from Lan's bed. Squirming into view, a young woman with long, dark red hair appeared before Lan. Covered with a white blanket, she looked at him with a slightly perturbed expression. "Before I wake up and find out you couldn't get up in time again?"

"Mayl, I..." Lan had no words now. He knew he had been caught, and that no excuse would be good enough at this point.

Mayl sighed, and then looked away towards the large window on the wall opposite of the doorway. The curtains were of white linen, with faint but noticeable pink hearts painted all over. The curtains formed a small opening which, during the day time, emitted a thin ray of light that lay perpendicular to the bed. "What am I going to do with you Lan? You can't even wake up in time to go to work. You'd think you'd have learned to get up on your own by now."

"Come on Mayl, it hasn't been that bad. I get up on time most days..."

As if ignoring Lan, she continued. "I really didn't think you were this dependant on Megaman waking you up all the time." She smirked and looked at Lan again. "I guess some things never change. Maybe I'll let Megaman wake you up again after all."

"Mayl, don't kid around..." Lan knew how much Mayl hated to be woken up early like this. Having a PET blaring one of those annoying alarm sounds wouldn't help that situation at all, and she had vocalized those concerns quite vehemently in the past.

Mayl sighed. "We'll talk about this later. Don't want you to be late after all. Oh wait, too late for that." With a chuckle, she lied down on the bed again and turned away from Lan. Still distraught, Lan turned into the doorway and walked towards the living room.

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"You know, she is right."

"I know that. She just doesn't have to tease me about it so much."

"Of course she does, it's the only thing you understand sometimes. Besides, I know you don't want to make her mad. I actually think it's a good thing she reacted calmly."

Lan sighed. He knew that the last thing he, or anyone for that matter, wanted to do was get Mayl mad. She was kindhearted for sure, but it's usually the nicest people that end up having the most evil dark sides. She was no exception. "Come to think of it, I think I'll take what I get."

"I thought so." Megaman kept silent as he reviewed a few key portions of data, even as Lan muttered under his breath about how annoying Megaman found Roll sometimes...

The clock showed 7:38 as the Metroline train halted near the SciLab station stop. With haste, Lan got up and started running away from the train towards the large building at the end of the path in front of him.

----------

"He was late again?"

"I know. I'm a bit surprised he even still has a job." Mayl sighed as she spoke to the PET she was holding in her hand while sitting down on the living room couch. She was clothed in a simple purple-pink T-Shirt with a pair of white shorts. They were a bit worn, mostly since they had been worn during many of the more strenuous cleaning tasks she'd dealt with. Her long hair was tied into a ponytail, hanging down below her shoulder. "Maybe I should just let Megaman--"

"Mayl, both me and Megaman know how much you hate being woken up too early. Just between you and me, I actually get a bit scared of you" The PET let out a chuckle, synchronized with the image of a human-looking face in a pink body suit smiling.

"I don't want him to lose his job. Even if Yuichiro does run SciLab--"

"Don't be paranoid Mayl. He does his job well, so I doubt they would get rid of him over being a few minutes late. Besides, Lan needs to learn not to be so irresponsible. He isn't 12 anymore you know."

Mayl smiled. Roll definitely looked the role of a typically submissive girl, and the pink didn't help to change that image either. Still, she was highly authoritative, and, judging from her dealings with Megaman, wouldn't just stand around if there was something that troubled her. Speaking of which...

"Wait a second." Mayl let out a smirk, "Since when did you become such an expert on dealing with _my_ husband? Don't you have your own to deal with?"

Roll smiled. She had won this battle, and Mayl knew it. Typical of her operator, she found a way to change the subject. "I'm only telling you what I think should be done. I'm sure Megaman would do the same if he were here."

"Yeah, except he'd find some way to get some new program or something out of it." They both laughed. It had been a while since the two were able to talk by themselves. Megaman usually stood home while Lan went to work to help Mayl with the errands. He's a huge help to them when he's here, but the fact that he was almost always there was a tad uncomfortable.

The two were interrupted when a loud ringing sound came out of the PET. After pressing a few buttons on the machine, Mayl saw the image of a fair-skinned woman with short brown hair on the LCD screen.

"Hello Mayl," the voice from the PET spoke.

"Mrs. Hikari! How are you?"

"Mayl, I keep telling you, call me Haruka." Haruka's voice was calm and serene, and she kept it this way even when she seemed annoyed. It made her a difficult person to argue with.

"I'm sorry, Haruka. It's been a while since I've talked to you. What's the problem?" Roll noticed that Mayl spoke a bit more formally now that Haruka was on the phone. Even as an adult she still had the utmost respect for her husband's mother.

"No problems. I was actually hoping that, if you weren't busy, you could come to dinner tonight along with Roll. I'm making beef stew."

Mayl's face lit up like a bulb. Mrs. Hikari's beef stew was the best in the entire ACDC area, at least according to Lan. What she had of it only confirmed that statement. "That's wonderful Mrs-- I mean Haruka. I'll call Lan right away about it."

"Oh, yes... about Lan. I was actually hoping that you and Roll could come alone?"

"Really?" This took Mayl a bit by surprise. Mrs. Hikari _never_ lost an opportunity to cook for her son. She would even occasionally come all the way to Den City with some of her food to give to Lan. Something had to be going on...

"Don't worry, there's no problem. I just thought it'd be nice... to get to know my daughter-in-law better... that's all." Mayl noticed a hint of nervousness in her voice, which was quite unlike her. Still, she could see why, now that she thought about it. She didn't really know Haruka that well, besides what she had seen of her when she visited with Lan. Having some time alone with her and Roll would do her some good.

She paused for a moment before giving her reply. "Sure, no problem. Roll and I would be delighted. Roll?"

"Don't worry, I'll e-mail Lan right away," the pink navi replied.

"Wait," Haruka interjected, "don't tell Lan you're coming here. If he knew, I'm sure he'd find some way to come anyway. You can tell him after we're finished here."

_'After we're finished here?'_ Mayl felt a bit uneasy about not telling Lan, especially when it involved his own mother. Still, there was something up, something that she definitely didn't want her son to hear. At least not yet... "Um... okay, I won't tell him." Mayl smiled, but left a hint of nervousness in her expression.

"That's great. Dinner will be ready by seven. See you there."

"Bye Haruka." The PET screen blacked out for a moment, then returned to the image of Roll. Mayl noticed that Roll had a slightly nervous expression, not to dissimilar to her own. "I guess you're uncomfortable with this too."

"It's certainly not like her to leave Lan out of someone like this. She loves him so much. What she has to say to us must be awfully important."

Mayl let out a small sigh. "Well anyway, I should probably finish cleaning this living room before lunch." She would worry about what Haruka might want to say when the time comes. For now, she had a bit of work to do. She looked at her watch-- eleven thirty-six-- and got up from the couch, clipped the PET onto her belt, and resumed her cleaning duties.

----------

"Lan, you know you can't keep doing this."

"I'm trying my best not to be late sir. I can assure you it won't happen again?"

"Oh it'll happen again, I'm sure. And when it does, you'll get two hours docked from your pay instead of the usual one. I think you understand me."

"Yes sir, completely."

"Good. The demonstration is in half an hour. Our clients aren't exactly the most levelheaded group, so it's vital we leave a good impression."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Perfect. I expect good things from you."

"Thank you."

A section of the computer screen on SciLab's Head of Navi Operations and Development disappeared, leaving a sprawling mess of various numbers and images. The man in charge sat back in his chair and closed his eyes to calm himself. Ever since he took this job he's always had lots of people complaining to him, asking him what to do, and making all sorts of appointments. As a result, he found himself complimenting and reprimanding people more often than dealing the scattered pieces of data displayed on his desktop. He especially hated it when he had to punish people, as he had just done, but it was a necessary part of his job. Still, it was always difficult docking someone's pay, or telling them they have to work late a night instead of coming home to their family.

He felt especially so when it came to Lan, his own son.

Doctor Yuichiro Hikari opened his eyes and began looking at the computer screen. No matter how hard he tried, he never got Lan never did kick his very bad habit of oversleeping. Of course, he was partially to blame-- letting Megaman act as his alarm clock day in and day out seemed to make him dependant-- but it was troublesome that, at twenty-three years old, Lan's job security was threatened because he was always coming to work ten minutes late. He'd have to talk to him personally about it, in a non-professional setting, so he can make his concerns clear without having to worry about any formal etiquette...

The door to Yuichiro's office opened abruptly, revealing a middle-aged man with a small disk in his hand. "Dr Hikari," the man spoke, "here's the data you asked for. Also, Mr. Yuji just arrived five minutes ago. Should I tell him you're busy?"

Yuichiro thought for a moment. "I won't keep him waiting too long." Dr. Hikari opened a just-arrived e-mail on his computer. "Tell him I'll be down in fifteen minutes to see him."

"Very well sir. Oh, and one more thing: the computers in lab seven are acting up again. The supervisor can't fix the problem, and wants to know if he can-- Dr. Hikari?" The man looked puzzled as he noticed Yuichiro looking blankly at the screen in front of him. His expression was one of combined shock and disbelief. "Dr. Hikari, are you listening?"

The stunned scientist turned to face the man, a solemn expression on his face. "Tell Mr. Yuji I had to cancel. Cancel any appointments I have for the rest of the day and hold all calls and e-mails."

"Dr... Dr. Hikari, sir. Mr. Yuji is booked solid; you won't be able to see him again for the next six months."

"Then we wait six months. I'm afraid something's come up, something important." Yuichiro put on his coat and prepared to walk out the door. "I trust you can take care of things until I come back?"

The man still had reservations with the doctor leaving, but he trusted his judgment. "Very well. Have a good day Dr. Hikari."

"You too." With that, the doctor left the room, with the man following close behind.

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Yuichiro sat on the Metro Line train, going over the text of the e-mail he received at SciLab. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time. _It's hard to believe it. After so many years... _The train stopped, announcing the destination: Electown. Yuichiro got up and exited the train with a small crowd of people, then made his way into the open walkways of the city. Looking around and glancing at his e-mail, Yuichiro started walking south, walking past Jomon's Electric Store on the way. _That was so long ago,_ he thought, referring to an event he recalled, _He has a lot of guts calling me, after what happened... things can get very bad if I'm not careful._

_Very, very bad..._

_----------_

I hope this was good. Trying to keep characters in character, especially when you're writing about them years later, can be difficult. Let's hope I did a good job. Remember to RR, I look forward to all comments, good, bad, or even just random


	2. Or Not

Cool, lots of good reviews. That'll help with motivation most definitely . Also, if you haven't already figured it out, this story's timeline is based on that of the games. I've never seen the show, so don't ask me about it. Also, I elected to use the English names unless where an English name isn't given (such as Lan's mom Haruka) since those are the ones I'm most familiar with.

Also, I apologize for the formatting errors in my previous chapters. There were supposed to be line breaks that indicate a change of setting, but apparantly didn't like the ones I used. Chapter 1 should be modified by now

To address some reviews:

Fanfic Critic: updating a chapter at a time shouldn't be a problem as long as I'm consistent with my updates. Besides, my standard length for a chapter (from 2000-3000 words) is about 3-4 times that of almost everyone else I've seen, so it's mostly the same anyway

Anime Master ZERO: J

Anyway, enough talking. Time for chapter 2

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 2: ...Or Not

Lan let out a heavy sigh as he approached the door to the central conference room of SciLab. The demonstration was in ten minutes, and even though he had made absolutely sure everything was in order, thrice in fact, he couldn't avoid the feeling of nervousness around him. It didn't help when he found out his fa-- the boss had to leave on an emergency.

He wondered what it was that could've caused such urgency. As far as he could remember, there weren't any problems at the Netopian branch (and he had checked to make sure) and there wasn't a single person who had failed to keep an appointment today. Either way, Lan had hoped for some last-minute instructions before he had to do this, but with the boss gone, he was on his own.

"Lan, what's wrong?" a voice inquired from the side of Lan's waist. "Why'd we stop?"

Lan snapped out of his pondering and realized that he had in fact stopped moving, about ten feet away from the door. "Oh Megaman. I'm sorry. I guess I was a bit distracted."

"This isn't the time. You know how important this presentation is. I can only do my part if you do yours."

"Yeah I guess." Lan walked towards the door again and, after a deep breath, opened it and went inside.

The room was large, one of the most spacious rooms in the building in fact. It was largely undecorated except for two large plants on either corner, opposite that of the wall the door was placed in, and a large poster displaying SciLab's promotional logo on the wall adjacent to the wall the door was in on Lan's left. The other adjacent wall was, in fact, not a wall at all but a large glass window peering onto the Northern side of Den City.

The room's centerpiece was a huge, rectangular conference table. On the short side of the table nearest to the window was housed a large eighty-inch plasma screen for display purposes. The other three sides of the table were lined with chairs, from twenty to twenty-five depending on how crowded the group in here wanted to be. Also around the table were a collection of jack-in ports.

Those seats were now filled by a group of eight, all clad in formal business attire. They were members of the Net Battle Technology Association, a business designed for the marketing of new battling techniques for navis. It was this same company that bought the technologies for style changes, and more recently the soul unison system. Still, this was the first time Lan was sent to present to them directly, so of course he felt nervous. Then again, he knew he shouldn't expect any less, seeing as he was demonstrating his own personal project.

Lan made his way to the backside of the plasma screen where a laptop computer was situated on a small fold-up table. He approached it and performed some keystrokes, causing the screen to light up. It displayed the image of a normal navi walking around in what appeared to be a large round platform.

When the navi looked towards Lan, he began to speak. "Hello sir. I'm pleased to inform you that all necessary programs are functioning normally. The necessary test subjects have been contained and all connections to the net have been cut off."

"Thank you Sam," Lan stated, slightly relieved. No problems so far. "Has the display area for our clients' navis been set up completely?"

"I have one or two programs making sure everything is in order. Last I checked there weren't any problems though. Everything is in order."

_Good. _Lan took the PET from his waist, extracted the long jack-in cord, and plugged it into the computer. "I'm sending Megaman over now." After pressing a few buttons, the LCD screen on the PET lit up for a second, and then synchronized itself with the laptop, acting as a mirror of its display. Megaman appeared on the connection portal in the laptop, and then walked up to Sam.

"Good day Megaman. I take it you're ready?"

Megaman snickered. "Of course I am. This shouldn't be too hard."

Lan looked at his watch. He had two minutes of mental preparation before he was to begin, and he planned to take advantage of it. He closed his eyes and went over what he was going to do. As long as he didn't freeze up everything would be fine... at least he hoped.

With a deep breath, Lan stood up straight and stood in front of the large screen, facing the eager NBTA executives, who were still muttering various things to each other. "Good morning everyone." The entire assembly became silent at the sound of Lan's voice. "My name is Lan Hikari, Senior Programmer in the Net Navi Battle Division of SciLab." The large plasma screen flickered on to show the large platform on the laptop, courtesy of one of the many camera programs installed. Two navis were on the display. "On your left is my official lab assistant Sam. He is responsible for aiding me in the creation of this project. To your right is my personal navi, Megaman. He has the privilege of demonstrating the project to all of you."

"This project, for those who don't know, is a brand new data transfer architecture specifically optimized for net battling. The current architecture allows for the operator of a navi to upload up to five battle chips at a time. After uploading, the data is sent to the navi for use. After a period of time, the operator may upload more data for the navi to use. This pattern continues until the end of the battle.

"There are two problems with this architecture. First, all instances of data transfer to the navi are isolated; the battle data sent to the navi will completely overwrite any data the navi already has to work with. Second, it takes a period of time between data transfers for the connection to clear itself of any garbage data. The purpose of this new architecture is to remedy those two problems by optimizing the connection between the navi and the PET. Please pay attention to the display on screen as I demonstrate."

Lan picked up his PET as Sam released a small collection of weak viruses-- three mettaurs-- into the arena. Lan began sliding two battle chips into his PET: a cannon and a wide sword. With the data uploaded, Megaman began battling, dodging a series of shockwaves from one of the mettaurs before firing the cannon at it. The mettaurs dispersed into a collection of junk data. Megaman used his buster to weaken the others. After 10 seconds passed, the PET signaled Lan that it was able to input more data. Lan slid in an area grab, sword, and long sword before uploading.

With the new chips, Megaman reacted quickly, using area grab to steal the virus' battle area, following up with a sword to the closest mettaur and a long sword to the farthest. They both disappeared, signaling an end to the battle.

"Busting time: 13.34 seconds," Lan stated as he began pressing buttons on his PET. "As you can see, the current method is inefficient, especially when you re unable to find the correct chips you want in time. Now watch me perform the same battle using the new architecture." He pressed one last button on the PET as Sam released another set of three mettaurs.

Lan began this by sliding a cannon, sword, and three mini bombs, the maximum chip count. With the data uploaded, Megaman started the battle similar to last time, by dodging a shock wave before firing a cannon, destroying the mettaur closest to him. However, the similarities ended there as, a mere two seconds after the battle began, Lan was at work again. He filled the first slot with an area grab, and then replaced the first two mini bombs with a wide sword and a long sword, respectively. When the data uploaded, the three swords combined to form the Life Sword program advance. Megaman acted swiftly, stealing the enemies' area and ending the battle with one swipe of the sword. Both mettaurs disappeared, and the battle ended.

"Busting time: 3.67 seconds." Lan breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed an excited commotion in the group in front of him. Lan turned off the plasma screen, but before he could speak again he began receiving questions from everyone in the group about this new technology; what bugs needed to be fixed, how quickly could you upload new data, how Important was operating speed in the new system. Lan did his best to answer them all, thankful that the meeting was turning out well. What he failed to notice was small warning notice that had appeared on the screen of his laptop.

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Yuichiro Hikari stopped at the small building in front of him. He was at the outskirts of Electown, where the buildings were considerably less taken cared of than their inner-city counterparts. He had noticed many broken windows, lots of stray trash, and even more graffiti in the many empty alleys he passed already. The building in front of him was no exception. He almost wondered if he had made a wrong turn when a voice spoke from a small device near the entrance to the building. "Ah," it stated, rather ominously, "I see you've gotten my e-mail. Good, that's good. Please come in."

The door in front of Yuichiro opened slowly. _He has surveillance here. Pretty good too since I didn't notice it._ He slowly stepped in, and was a bit surprised at what he saw. Inside what he ascertained to be the living room was an absolute mess. Papers of many different colors and thickness littered the floor, almost covering the wooden tile surface. There was only a small rocking chair and a large bookcase as furniture. Peering at the floor he noticed newspapers, many of which were up to five years old. It seemed as if the room hadn't been cleaned by anyone in years.

Making his way through, Yuichiro noticed a slightly open door to his left, right next to the bookcase. Cautiously, he opened it and stepped into it. Inside was a collection of assorted items, ranging from a bookcase to various machines that not even he knew about. Farthest away from the door was a collection of 4 monitors, all turned on and displaying different types of data.

Seated at the desk where these monitors were situated was a young man of about 35. His skin was pale, his short brown hair a mess, and his eyes were glazed, partially covering his bright blue eyes. He wore only a pair of pants, a shirt, and a long trench coat, all black. The sight made Yuichiro a little uneasy. _All this time, _he thought, _and he hasn't changed a bit._ The thought was not comforting, and his uneasiness increased when the young man got up off his seat and began to speak.

"Well, if it isn't my old friend Yuichiro..."

"I'd prefer 'Mr. Hikari' if you don't mind." Yuichiro stood back a bit towards the door. "And I don't think 'friend' describes our relationship quite well."

"Same old Yuichiro I see." The man turned around to face the scientist. "I see you still have some hard feelings."

"Some." _That's an understatement._ "Tell me Martin, what do you want?"

The man stood silent for a moment. "Martin? I'd prefer 'Dr. Cain' if you don't mind." He spoke it in a mocking tone, unnerving Yuichiro even more. "As for what I want you for? Let's just say I have something that I know you'll be very interested in. Now, come here" Without another word, he sat back down on his computer and started typing.

Yuichiro started walking nervously towards Cain. _I have to keep my composure. I don't know what it is he wants, but whatever it is,_ he stopped near the computer Cain was working at; _it must be something if he's dumb enough to talk to me again._

_----------_

_Now I wished I hadn't prepared so much,_ Lan thought as he helped another investor with his PET. He had taken the liberty of including a prototype of the system for installation on each person's PET. It was a good idea, but Lan found himself constantly attending to the various bugs that had crept up during their messing around. He had fully intended to deal with these bugs; just not during the meeting with everyone around. Still, he had to admit that this meeting had been a success, as the head of the group was already calling his boss about how to go about improving SciLab's funding.

"Lan! Lan!" a worried voice yelled from the laptop behind the screen. Lan excused himself from the group as he made his way toward the computer. When he saw the screen, he saw Sam frantically pacing around the area.

"What's wrong with him?" Megaman asked from his PET-- he had been jacked out of the computer after the demonstration.

"Sam, what's going on?" Lan spoke as Sam started to calm down "I'm kind of busy here. And try to keep it down; I don't want the executives getting anxious."

"I'm sorry sir, but... the new battle architecture... it's..." Sam tried to form the words but continued to mutter incomprehensibly.

"Sam, what's wrong. What about the new battle architecture."

"The data... all of it... source code, beta builds, external data... it's all been... stolen!"


	3. Dinner For Three

Writing can be interesting sometimes. It's interesting to read a story and realize that it probably wasn't supposed to turn out that way when the author first thought up of the story. Writing is an art, and as such doesn't function well when dictated under a strict set of rules and regulations. It is ever-changing to suit new experiences, new viewpoints, and new situations. It changes when, partway through writing, you find ways to make the story seem better later on. I say this not in regard to any particular aspect of my story, but simply because it was the best thing I can come up with to prelude the third chapter of my story. Thanks for your reviews so far, I'll try to update in a quick fashion, but not too quick, as I love stringing along readers with well-placed cliffhangers and lingering questions.

I also want to say that I'm taking a somewhat unique direction with this fanfic. What you may end up finding is a collection of storylines that seem loosely related at best. It won't be until later on that you'll know why I did some things, so complaining about why I wrote that, or what that has to do with anything will be quite redundant seeing as everything in my writings is there for a reason. Now, let's begin.

UPDATE: Darn me and my oversight. I accidentally uploaded the wrong document -- There was supposed to be another scene between the last two below, but I forgot to include it... oh well, hopefully most of you wouldn't have noticed anyway

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 3 - Dinner for Three

"Are you sure you saw nothing?" Eugene Chaud stood at the laptop computer, calm and collected, unflinching in facial expression. The investigation had begun only a half hour earlier, and they already had a somewhat clear picture of who the perpetrator of the stolen data was. One of the camera programs scattered in the computer was able to pick up the image of a red-armored navi, with what appeared to be long yellow hair flowing behind it. Chaud had already gathered that the navi got into the computer through an open net port, grabbed the data, and left while the demonstration was still going on.

However, knowing who did it didn't help them much, as there was no sign of the navi anywhere in the net thus far. Beside, finding this navi wasn't as important as discovering how he got into Lan's computer in the first place. He had already checked the rest of the camera feed for anything suspicious, and found nothing. Sam hadn't forgotten to close the ports to the net, as the computer's logs showed that the port had been opened during the demonstration. Likewise, neither Sam nor Megaman could have opened it because the computer also logs Navi actions, the transcripts of which are restricted in access. The virus scanner also showed that there were no viruses in the system besides those that had been brought in for the demonstration. Those viruses had also been checked for any dubious code. None was found.

This left everyone, including Chaud, baffled at what could've happened. He knew that the navis wouldn't be able to give him anymore information, but he figured he would talk to them anyway just to be sure. As he expected, nothing. "I assure you Chief," Sam replied in response to Chaud's inquiry, "I saw nothing. You know as much by the logs."

"Everyone in the audience saw me the entire time," Megaman said in his reply, "I wasn't able to get a clear view of anything near the open data port."

"I see," Chaud wasn't the least surprised at their responses, but still felt a bit irritated. It wasn't the fact that this was one of the most underhanded data thefts in a long time; there was something more to his irritation.

"I don't understand," Lan spoke after Chaud backed away from the computer, "If it wasn't a virus that connected my computer to the net, then what was it?"

Chaud looked at Lan for a moment. That was why he was irritated. The thought of talking to _him_ again wasn't exactly the most comforting thought. After all, this was the only civilian he knew of who could beat him in a one-on-one net battle, and losing isn't something he or Protoman enjoys very much. However, it also stemmed from the fact that despite Megaman's skill, Lan had to audacity to deny an honorable privilege...

Chaud ran his fingers through his white hair before replying. Irritated or not, Lan was a member of SciLab, and as such was entitled to the full services of the official net battlers like every other member. He thought about what he knew so far about the situation, but couldn't find an answer... unless... "All indications say that 'something' was able to execute the command to open the data port. The problem is there's no record of the command even being executed at all. The logs say that the net port was opened, but those same logs don't specify a command to do such as taking place. None of the viruses we've come across behave in this way."

"That is odd. But still, it doesn't answer my question--"

"In fact," Chaud said with a smile, "it answers your question completely." Chaud was able to pride himself on one thing: Lan may know enough about navi interfaces to work at SciLab, but Chaud was a literal savant when it came to the programming structures of whole computer systems. "What we have here is a type of virus that hasn't been in use in nearly half a century." The two were silent as Lan readied himself for an explanation.

"Most viruses we know of have a digital form similar to objects in the cyber world. They are essentially clusters of data that can interface with this world much like navis do; in fact, most viruses are nothing more than manifestations of the battle chip data we use for our navis. The problems caused by these navis are usually of a result of them corrupting the data that makes up a cyber world, causing it to become bugged or to execute a specific set of commands."

"Okay... but that isn't what caused this, am I right?"

"Yes. What we have here is a virus that really is nothing more than a system program. The most common forms were those spread through e-mail. By opening an attachment, you executed a program which could do anything from copying itself all over the hard drive to sending a command to delete everything on it. It lost widespread use, though, when the new type of viruses were found to be much more damaging."

"So you think I got that type of virus on this system? But how? I haven't gotten an e-mail attachment in a long time."

"That's what we're going to find out." Chaud started to walk away from the conference room. "I'll be coming to pick up the computer in an hour. Back up whatever data you need and move Sam to another computer. It could get messy. And don't be late." He walked through the door and was out of view when Lan let out a heavy sigh. He jacked out Megaman from the computer and looked towards his PET.

"Dad is not going to be happy at all." Lan said softly.

"First off," Megaman replied, "he isn't 'dad' while we're at work. Second, if what Chaud said is true, then it isn't really our fault. Still, he shouldn't exactly be thrilled to hear that a three-year project was stolen right in front of our eyes."

"I guess. Anyway, just remember to keep this between you and me. Nothing to Mayl or Roll about it."

"Yeah, I know how it works." SciLab's policy was that if such an incident were to occur, it was to stay within those involved. Anyone who didn't either witness the incident or have something of theirs involved didn't know about it. Megaman thought it was a bit dishonest, but understood that for a large research center such as SciLab, they didn't have much of a choice.

"Good. We should get to work on the computer." Lan picked up the computer and started toward his office. He observed the time on his PET: eleven fifty-three. There was still about five hours before work was finished, but he had a feeling those hours would go by very slowly...

----------

"Thank you for the wonderful dinner Haruka." Mayl smiled gleefully after finishing the last bite of her beef stew. It was eight o'clock now, an hour after she got to Haruka's house, and they had already talked about quite a few things. They had gotten into conversations about Lan's job, Yuichiro's job, Megaman and Roll, some recent net events, even for a moment the latest fashions. Yet, as Roll herself noticed, Haruka was still a bit nervous about something.

It was probably important. Mayl had to admit that they really didn't talk about anything that a good phone call wouldn't have taken cared of. There was something else... "I'm glad you loved it Mayl," Haruka replied, a smile gleaming on her face. "It's good to see you in a good mood like this. It's always nice to know Lan has someone so well-mannered as a wife. I... I'm quite proud of you."

Mayl was a bit surprised. Not at what she said, but rather at her wording. She already knew Haruka was quite fond of her-- she had said as much since they were married-- but never did she say she was _proud_ of her... It sounded as if... "Mayl," Haruka began, interrupting Mayl's thought process, "I wanted to tell you something. You see..." Haruka paused as she tried to get the words out, now having a small frown on her face. "I spoke to your mother." Mayl was visibly alert at those words, suddenly becoming annoyed in her facial expression.

_"_Really? What does _she _want?" Mayl turned her face away from Haruka's view. She noticed Roll working with some data, seemingly oblivious to the conversation despite the fact that she had been listening until Haruka spoke about her mother.

Haruka continued. "She told me that she e-mailed you three times in the past week, but that you got none of them. She thought you were avoiding her, so she told me to tell you what she anted to say."

_I hope she wasn't surprised, _Mayl thought. "And?"

Haruka took a bit of time as she tried to continue relay the message. "'Hello my daughter. I hope you still aren't mad at me. I tried to do the best I can, but you have to understand that I simply couldn't do it anymore. Your father is a wonderful person, but I simply couldn't love him as much as I do Michael. He won't talk to me, and that makes me sad.'" Mayl became visibly angrier as Haruka continued on with the message. "'I'm telling you this because I'm afraid I won't be able to visit you this summer. You see, me and Michael--'"

"Stop right there," Mayl said softly, a sullen expression on her face, "I don't _feel_ like hearing _her_ excuses." Mayl got up and went from the dining table onto the couch. Haruka got up and followed her.

"I'm sorry Mayl," she said, "Really, I am." She sat down next to her daughter-in-law. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you anything at all..."

"No Haruka, you didn't do anything wrong," Mayl looked towards the floor, not focusing on anything in particular. "I figured this would happen. It has nothing to do with you."

"But that's just it. I'll be honest; I was quite upset when I read what she was doing. The divorce was hard enough on you and your father, and for her to do this was just... wrong." Mayl remained silent, unmoving in her gaze. Roll continued to work on various pieces of data. "I didn't just invite you over to satisfy her, if that's what you're thinking. I guess... I felt guilty."

"Guilty?" Mayl inquired as she turned her head towards Haruka. "Guilty about what?"

Haruka looked Mayl in the eyes for a moment, noting that her face had become slightly red and coarse. "Well," she began, looking away, "for a long time, even after you married my son, I never really got to know you. To me you were just one of my son's friends, just a bit closer than most.

"Perhaps you don't know this..." she paused a moment to look back at Mayl, "...but before your mom and dad divorced, she spoke to me about you. She was already seeing Michael at the time, but it was obvious she loved you very much. I actually thought that even if she left your dad, she would continue to care for you. I guess I was wrong."

She looked away again, "I didn't want to replace your mother. I still don't. But when I got this message today, I thought about some things. I wondered whether I was really different from her. I know you're a bit taken aback even thinking that I could be like such a person. But that's how I felt. I'm not your mother. But I am you mother-in-law."

Mayl looked at Haruka intently, noticing that she started to smile. She looked away towards the floor again. "Mayl," Haruka continued, "I wondered, 'if something happened to Lan, would I be able to help Mayl, to comfort her?' I honestly couldn't answer the question. So I decided I'd try to fix things. Your mother is gone, and I don't think she'll be coming back. So I just wanted to say..." She looked at Mayl until she met her gaze, "...that I'll do my very best to treat you like my very own, if you'll let me."

Mayl stared silently and felt her face getting redder and redder. After a moment, she found herself with her arms around Haruka and her face on her shoulder, crying. Whether they were tears of joy or tears of sorrow, or perhaps both she didn't know. All she knew was that she had wanted this. It wasn't apparent before, but she yearned for this almost as much as for her own mother...

----------

Lan turned around as he heard the sound of a door opening and closing, looking towards the direction of the living room. She saw the image of a long-haired red head from behind walk towards the couch, and saw her sat down, her face barely in view. He smiled as she saw her hair tumble over her shoulder as she sat.

Mayl let out a sigh as she sat, seemingly not looking at anything. Her face had a faint shade of crimson and was still slightly damp. "Mayl, are you okay?" Roll asked. She had barely said a word while Haruka was talking and only made a few general comments on the way home.

"I'm fine Roll," Mayl replied, "I guess... I guess I didn't know what came over me." She looked over at the image of Roll on her PET, and then smiled. "I'll be okay."

"Okay about what?" Mayl turned her head to see Lan staring straight at her. E was smiling, but Mayl could sense a bit of concern in that smile. "What happened?"

Mayl stood silent for a moment. "Your mom-- Haruka asked me and Roll to visit her for dinner tonight."

"Wh-- what? But why-- I mean, why didn't you tell me?" Lan seemed a bit surprised at the statement, though Mayl noticed he wasn't nearly as frantic as usual. Progress perhaps?

Anyway, she wasn't quite ready to tell him everything that happened. Any mention of her mother was enough to depress her, but that in addition to what happened with Haruka... "Um... ask me again tomorrow, okay?"

Lan didn't speak, pondering over her words. Mayl remembered how in times like this Lan would usually be insistent on what's wrong, serving no purpose but to make her more emotional than she already was. God only knows the things she wanted to do to him when the divorce actually took place.

Lan let out a sigh. Almost suddenly afterward he let out a smile. "Fine, I'll ask you tomorrow."

Mayl released the breath she was holding. Thank goodness Lan decided to be reasonable this time. "Thank you..." Mayl felt a bit more at ease, and then remembered something. "Oh! Lan, I'm sorry. How was the demonstration?" Mayl thought he saw Lan frown, but was only able to observe a smile on his face as he replied.

"It went fine. The system works like a charm. Isn't that right Megaman?"

It took a moment for him to respond. "Sure is Lan. Sorry, I was a bit busy with something."

"Hiya Mega!" Roll yelled from her PET.

"Heya Roll." Megaman always loved it when she greeted him like that.

"Hey Megaman, how quickly did you beat those viruses? You are a bit rusty you know."

"Hey," Megaman smiled as he held his arm up, "I may not fight as much as I used to, but I'm still as sharp as ever."

"Yeah, sure," Roll teased sarcastically.

"Heh, Megaman," Lan interjected, "You'll always think you're the best, won't you?"

Megaman put his hand behind his head nervously. "Well, I _did_ delete them quickly, right?"

Lan rolled his eyes "Yes, you did." He was relieved he was able to be in a decent mood like this. His father never did return from his errand, so the rest of his work day went pretty smoothly. He did wonder what could've held his father up for so long, but he was more rejoiced that he could get a good rest before having to deal with the virus problem... if only he could tell Mayl.

"Well," Mayl said, "I'm glad it went well."

Lan looked at her. "Thanks." His expression shifted to a sly grin. "But there's _still_ the issue of you eating my mom's food without me."

Mayl knew where this was going. Lan could be so predictable some times. Oh well, Lan's been a good boy, she might as well give him what he wants. She matched Lan's expression. "Oh really. What exactly are you going to do about it?"

Megaman rolled his eyes. "Gee, I wonder."

"First, we gotta jack you to into the Dell." Lan gave Megaman a dirty look. Megaman smiled as he stuck his tongue out at Lan

Roll rolled her eyes as well. "Cut it out Mega. _You_ still need to tell me exactly how you did today."

"Trust me," Megaman said confidently "I won't waste any time."

Lan and Mayl smiled, then went over to an old-looking computer in an empty corner of the living room. They both connected their PETs to the computer, then left them on the floor. Megaman and Roll appeared on screen, in time to see Lan and Mayl walking into the hallway and into the bedroom.

In the artificial cyber world inside the computer, the two navis looked towards the hallway where their operators had been only a moment before. "It's funny..." Megaman said as he heard the slamming of a door. "...what kind of things people do for fun."

"Come on, Mega, you know it isn't _only _for fun. It's not like there's someone sitting in a room on a computer creating humans, right?"

Megaman laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Now, what were you saying about me being rusty?"

"Tee-hee!" Roll laughed as he started to listen to Megaman explain his performance that day...

----------

Mayl frantically looked around the bathroom near her bedroom. _Where in the world is it?_ she thought as she opened various cabinets, to no avail.

"Mayl, what's going on?" said a loud voice from the bedroom. Mayl ignored the voice as she continued searching the area. After a few minutes she gave up. She stood still for a while contemplating what to do. _I can't stop now, _she thoughtShe gave a heavy sigh. "I'm coming Lan," she screamed back to Lan. She went out of the bathroom, making a mental note to search again tomorrow. After all, it was only one night.

_What are the chances?_


	4. Dull Days at Den City

After reading many of the other Megaman.exe fics on , I figured that I might as well say something regarding the universe of this fic. I did say in the A/N of chapter 2 that this was based on the games, not the anime. This is very important because, judging from the descriptions of the show I've seen, there are some circumstances and events in this story that, while plausible within the universe of the games, wouldn't work if based on the anime.

And another note on that, even the games only provide a loose basis for the story, seeing as 1) The games' overall story isn't completely solid, which is understandable because it is a _game_, not a novel, and 2) Many plot points and circumstances are terribly inconsistent between the different installments of the games. Thus, if I see you write any reviews that criticize me for not taking into account on tiny detail in the games, you're wasting your time, cause chances are I already took it into account when making my story. I'm of the belief that if something isn't completely specified in your source, you can specify it however you damn please. Now, onto chapter 4

----------

A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 4: Dull Days at Den City

Lan sat up on his bed, stretching his arms out towards the ceiling to relieve the tightness in his muscles. He looked towards the date and time display on the nightstand clock, smiling as he noted what it read: nine thirty. Lan always looked forward to Saturdays and Sundays, as they were the days of the week when he was on call duty and he could sleep in without any problems.

He turned around to make sure his wife was still asleep. Even on Saturdays he had to make sure to be quiet, as Mayl also liked to take advantage of weekends to--

Lan's expression became that of bewilderment when he observed the empty section of the bed where Mayl had been just the night before. The sheets were still crumpled and warm, meaning that she hadn't been out of bed for long. "Well this is odd," Lan mused to himself as he got out of bed. After putting on a plain white t-shirt and a pair of black pants, he left the room to get some breakfast. Lan smiled. He recalled that Mayl liked to prepare breakfast extra early on weekends when she was in an especially good mood.

He smelled nothing as he made his way towards the living room. The room was silent besides the hum of the Dell computer operating in standby in the corner of the room. From what Lan could see and hear, Mayl wasn't in the kitchen. He went to the computer to wake up Megaman and Roll--

Mayl's PET wasn't near the computer. In fact, as he observed when the bright image of the computer's cyber world appeared, Roll wasn't in the computer at all. Only Megaman was there, still sleeping soundly.

"Megaman, Megaman. Wake up." The blue navi stirred at the sound of Lan's voice and, after a few moments, stood up to face his operator.

"Hey Lan. What's up?" the navi asked in a drowsy voice.

"Hey Megaman. Do you know where Mayl and Roll are, I didn't see them when I woke up."

"Oh?" Megaman stopped as he let out a small yawn, and then looked at where Roll was supposed to be sleeping. "They aren't here? That's strange."

"I know." Lan looked around the living room, and then finally noticed a small piece of paper on the table next to the couches. After jacking Megaman out into his PET, he walked over to the table and picked up the piece of paper, reading it:

_Had to go on a few errands. Will be back soon. I love you - Mayl_

Lan pondered for a moment after reading the note. "I don't remember her mentioning any errands yesterday, and the last time she did anything really was a week or so ago when she went to see my mom." He paced around the room. "What could have been so important that she'd--" he was interrupted by the beeping sound of his PET.

"Lan, you have new mail."

"Let's have it."

Megaman read, staying silent for a moment. "You're needed at work ASAP. They don't care what you wear; they just want you there as soon as possible."

Lan groaned. _So much for a good day of rest._

"Do you need me to do anything here while you're gone?"

Lan thought for a moment. "Actually," he began, "since Mayl and Roll aren't here I think it'd be better if I take you with me."

"Okay, sure. Just jack me into the home computer and I'll perform some maintenance while you get ready."

Lan nodded, and then made his way over to a large desk near the main door. Its location was the exact opposite of the old computer on the floor, and it housed its own machine, one of the newest models. Lan jacked Megaman in, and then went back into the bedroom to shower and change.

----------

Yuichiro walked silently through the halls in the upper levels of SciLab. The executive level was only two floors up, just a short walk away from the elevator doors. That is, if he had elected to take the elevators. The man walking a few feet behind him was told that the elevators were out of order. That had been a lie, of course, but the scientist needed to bide some time to get relax himself.

'Doctor' Martin Cain looked around the various parts of the building as they walked through. He had been heavily intrigued by some of the projects the various scientists were working on, though he kept silent about it. After all, Yuichiro wouldn't like it if he knew he could tell exactly what someone was doing just by glancing at their code for a few seconds as they passed by. The man was uneasy enough about this project he had put in front of him just a few days before...

Skipping the elevators only bought a few extra minutes at most, as the two approached a large door marked 'Project Executive'. "We're here," Yuichiro said finally, breaking the silence. "I'm warning you, I highly doubt this will end up being in your favor."

"Perhaps," the black-clad scientist said, "but I'll take my chances. It's good enough to get this opportunity." He walked closer to the door and put his hand on it slowly. "It's been a long time..."

"Indeed. A long time." _And if it were up to me, it would've been _much _longer than this. _ Yuichiro opened the door, and the two entered slowly.

An old man who could be no younger than fifty was seated at a large desk on the other side of the room. His hair was thinned, but nonetheless combed back neatly, shining brightly from the gel used to hold it in place. He wore a gray suit and matching gray tie, which also matched nicely with the large gray computer he was working on at the moment.

Upon seeing the pair enter the room, he typed a few things on his computer than arranged some of the papers on his desk. He stood up and approached the two. "You've brought him, I see," he said slowly. His speech was soft like an old man, yet succinct enough to evoke authority in even the toughest of employees. "I have a lot of work to do, so this better be good."

Yuichiro went to reply to him, only to be interrupted by the man behind him. "Trust me, I won't disappoint you."

"Has the meeting with the rest of the executives been arranged?" Yuichiro asked, ignoring his associates comment.

"They'll be in the conference room shortly. It took a lot of guts to request an emergency meeting like this Dr. Hikari. You're fortunate nothing too serious has been going on or you wouldn't have been granted the privilege."

Yuichiro didn't like how unimportant he considered the current crisis in his department, but in the big scheme of things he figured someone like him would have more important things to worry about. "Understood." He looked towards Cain. "I'll be in the conference room. You have half an hour to present your project to Mr. Yamato before you present it to the conference." With that Yuichiro left the room, closing the door behind him.

The two remaining in the room stood silent for a minute before Yamato began speaking. "You have a lot of guts coming back after what you pulled. One of our greatest projects was almost destroyed because of you. I came close to making sure you would never set foot here again."

"In that case," Cain said, smiling, "I'm glad you decided to reconsider. To be honest, the chances of you excepting this project are pretty low. In fact, I almost consider this a waste of my time."

"Then why did you bother coming here?"

Cain stood silent, smiling. He noticed Yamato's stern disposition, unchanging since the last time he saw him when he was fired. "I wanted to see how you'd react. Just curious."

"Indeed." He sat back down on his desk. "Please proceed."

----------

"Ah, so you found the virus!" Lan sat in front of the large computer in his office. On the screen was an image of Eugene Chaud, the Net Battle Officials Chief Commander. "That's a relief."

"Not quite," Chaud replied, his face expressionless, "If you'll recall, we still don't have a clue as to who might have infected the computer."

"Um... well, I guess you're right about that. But still--"

"Protoman is still searching the net for any new information," Chaud continued, ignoring Lan's musings, "I do have an idea as to how the virus got on your system though, if you feel like listening."

"Don't worry about that." Lan seemed annoyed, but that wasn't abnormal considering who he was talking to. "I'm listening."

"Very well. I was able to pinpoint the virus and its code in your PC. It was as I said: a piece of code disguised as a system command program. It could've been anything, a text document, a spreadsheet, even a simple alarm clock program. Of course, with the way computers are constructed now these types of viruses wouldn't be able to do much harm, but opening a connection to the net was easy enough based on what I saw."

Lan nodded. "That's good and all, but--"

"Don't you want to know where I found the program?"

Lan gave him a glare, but nodded in response.

"Tell me Megaman, what exactly is that plus parts named 'Iloveyou' that you have installed in you Navi Customizer.

Megaman took a moment to respond, surprised that Chaud had suddenly started speaking to him. "Well," he began, "That was given to me by Roll about two weeks ago. We had a small fight, and she wanted--"

"Where did she get the part?"

"Oh, she told me she got it from a Net Dealer in the Den Area. She said the cute pictures were too good to pass up."

"That plus part _is_ the virus."

Lan put his face closer to the computer. "What? But that isn't even an actual program. It was just simple image and--" Lan paused for a moment, then trailed off his last few words. "--and a text file."

"Exactly. The program was embedded into the text file, which was then executed when Megaman jacked into the computer. The program was set to open the net connection five minutes after being executed. According to the logs, that's exactly when it happened."

Lan and Megaman were silent for a minute, letting Chaud's explanation sink in. Megaman was the first to speak. "I'm sorry Lan."

"Don't worry about it," Lan replied, "We couldn't do anything about it. Chaud did say these types of viruses couldn't be detected."

"We do know now," Chaud said, apparently proceeding from where he left off, "that whoever did this knew exactly how to get the virus into the computer, and had full knowledge of the relationship between your navis. The only problem is that information doesn't help us at all. Anyone from a disgruntled business partner to a small-time hacker could've done this."

"Is there any way to find out?"

"Not right away. But I'll be sure to keep this top priority. If we find anything, we'll inform SciLab at once. I'm going now."

"Wait, Chaud!"

Chaud was still, his face unmoving.

"I... I just wanted to know if you were still mad at me and Megaman. I--"

"What's done is done. I have an obligation to help you, and you have an obligation to receive my help. There's nothing more to it."

Lan let out a sigh. "If you say so."

The section of the computer screen showing Chaud's image faded away, leaving nothing but a collection of windows cascading the screen.

"I don't think he'll ever give us a straight answer about that." Megaman opened some data screens in the PET's cyber area. "As for this plus part..." One of the data screens displayed the image of a large pink heart with both him and Roll during their wedding, with another data screen below it displaying a short message. Megaman let out a long sigh. "To think that someone could take advantage of us like this."

"Don't worry Megaman," Lan said confidently, "Whoever did this will pay, believe me. Chaud and Protoman will make sure of it."

"Thanks Lan. Anyway, I forgot to tell you: While you and Chaud were talking, Lenny from the Waterworks called and left a message saying his computer was infected with viruses and needed to be purged before he lost all his data."

Lan got up immediately. "W-What? How long ago was this?"

Megaman put his hand behind his back nervously. "Uh, about 5 minutes ago."

"Wonderful..." Lan groaned as he took Megaman and left his office to take care of the call.

----------

Haruka hummed a short tune to herself as she watched the potatoes boiling in the pot on the burner farthest away from her. She took a soup spoon and dipped it into the pot directly in front, tasting the delicious tomato soup that was simmering on the burner. _Still not salty enough. Has it really been so long since my husband came home for lunch that I've forgotten how to cook for him? _Haruka chuckled at the joke she made, then put a small dash of salt into the brewing mixture.

Before she could check the firmness of the potatoes, she heard a ring coming from the phone on the far side of the kitchen near the living room. Setting the oven on 'auto-cook', she went over and pressed a button on the console, causing the screen above it to display the worried face of a young, red-haired woman.

"Oh Mayl, how are you!" Haruka smiled at the image of her daughter-in-law.

"Hi Haruka. I'm fine, thank you..." Mayl seemed to be gazing around the room as she spoke.

"Is something wrong? You don't look so good."

"Well, there really isn't anything wrong per se... it's just... well..." Mayl continued to shift her gaze, apparently avoiding eye-to-eye contact with the person she was conversing with.

"What? What is it?" Haruka's expression became tense as she continued to watch Mayl fidget.

"Well... first, I wanted to say I'm glad that we're getting to know each other better as friends. It really does mean a lot to me."

"Why... thank you Mayl. I'm glad we could become better friends too." Was this all she as worried about? Haruka thought about how nervous she could be over some of the littlest things...

"Good. Then you can help me with this... situation I'm having... that is, if you don't mind? Roll isn't here, so it's just you and me."

"No, I don't mind at all. I'll always be here to help you. I promised you, remember?"

"Okay..." Mayl looked uneasy for a couple of moments as she seemed to be collecting words to say. "I went to see the doctor today... don't give me that look, I told you nothing was wrong... it's just... he told me..."

"Yes?"

"Haruka, I'm pregnant."

----------

Yes, I know you saw this coming. Not like I care much, since there's more to the story than simply this . As for the virus, yes, I intended to name it Iloveyou. I figured a bit of fourth wall irony wouldn't hurt, as long as it didn't mess with the flow of the story. Speaking of which, is the flow okay? I'm usually very technical when it comes to my writing, so I'm not really sure if I'm conveying the emotion I need to from the characters. If I'm not, please tell me how I can improve, 'kay? I hope you like the story so far anyway.


	5. Father and Son

Yay, a lot of good reviews for my story so far. Maritta, I can understand where you're coming from about the story having a 'tense air' but this has more to do with my writing style than the plot. As I said, I have a technical mindset, which also translates to more realistic writing (honestly, what part of our lives _doesn't_ have some sort of serious and tense air surrounding it?) Nevertheless, I'll keep what you say in mind (and if there are some things that seem confusing, be assured that it will be explained. If it isn't it's my fault, and then you could get mad at me )

Thanks for the praise Fanfic Critic, I don't like reading fics with too much mushy stuff either. It's cute and all, but it seems more like watching a soap opera then reading a story (and trust me, I hate soap operas ). Anyway, nothing else for me to say here, except that this chapter might be a little longer than the others. Now, on to chapter 5!

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 5: Father and Son

"That was it?" Megaman asked as he and Lan walked away from the Waterworks complex, "When I forwarded these kinds of messages to you from home, I thought you actually had to break a sweat."

"C'mon Megaman, it isn't always that easy. Sam wasn't exactly built to be a net battler like you are. Besides, even Lenny could've taken care of those weak viruses." Lan walked into the entrance to SciLab, and then made his way to the elevators. "It's almost lunch time. Mind sending an e-mail to the cafeteria to have some food ready for me?"

"Sure Lan. What do you want?"

As Lan pondered the choices of foods he had to eat and relayed them to his navi, the elevator door finally opened. Lan immediately froze when he saw his father step out of the elevator along with a rugged-looking, brown-haired man. The two shifted their gaze to face Lan as the elevator closed behind them. "Good day Dr. Hikari, sir." Lan bowed his head in respect of his boss.

Yuichiro smiled. "No need for that now, I'm off for the rest of the day. I'm sure no one will mind if you call me 'dad.'"

"Cool, thanks." One of the more radical changes Lan had to make when he started working here was to make sure to treat his dad like his boss. He understood why though; it wouldn't be proper to imply that the head of the division would give special treatment to an employee because he was related to him, even if the reality was far from the truth. Lan never used his relationship with his father as an excuse when he made mistakes, and his father always gave him the same rewards and punishments as everyone else. Still, none of that usually matters to the eyes and ears of an outsider, so great care had to be taken even when speaking to him during work.

Megaman finished composing the e-mail for the cafeteria and sent it away. "Hey, how are you?" he stated when saw his father walking alongside Lan.

"Oh, Megaman's here too? That's a pleasant surprise. I'm fine, thank you."

"So this is Megaman..." Both Lan and Yuichiro turned their heads to face the other person with them. He watched Megaman intently for a moment, then turned his head towards Lan before speaking again. "And Yuichiro's son. I'm very glad to meet you."

Lan became uneasy when the man spoke, but he ignored it. What reason was there to be afraid of someone he'd just met? "It's a pleasure. And you are--"

"Cain. Dr. Cain if you don't mind. I'm an old friend of your father here."

Yuichiro spoke as he began to walk again. "Well, I have to go. Let's go Martin." He stopped when he realized that Cain had almost ignored him completely.

"I've heard a lot about you. You and Megaman were the ones that saved these fragile networks from the likes of World Three and Gospel. You must be a fine net battler." Cain came closer to Lan as he spoke the words.

Lan's face blushed red in embarrassment. "Well, it wasn't just us. I had a lot of help too. I don't think I would've been able to do it myself."

"Indeed."

Lan's PET beeped loudly for a moment before Megaman spoke. "It's a new e-mail... it's Mayl. She says she wants you home early today, and that it's important."

"Really? Well, that shouldn't be a problem. I shouldn't be here much longer anyway."

"Ah, so you're married," Cain interjected.

Lan focused his attention on the man again and nodded. "Three years and counting."

"That's good." Cain looked away, seemingly into nowhere. "Marriage can be so wonderful." He paused for a moment. "Do you have kids?"

At this point Yuichiro interjected into the conversation, giving a stern look to his associate. "Martin, don't be so direct."

"No, it's okay dad," Lan said quickly. "I don't mind, really. Actually, Mayl and I decided that having kids right now would be too much of a hassle. I mean, I'm still trying to get used to being a husband." He let out a small laugh.

"Actually," Megaman interceded, "The decision was mostly yours." Lan smiled nervously as he used his eyes to give Megaman a stern look. The navi turned his gaze away from him. "Fine, be that way."

Lan looked towards Cain again. "I'm sorry; Megaman can be a bit of a pain sometimes. I don't understand why though." He turned a quick glance at the navi, "He isn't like that with Mayl or Roll, at least not that I know of."

"Roll?" Cain raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, she's Mayl's navi. She and Megaman were married about the same time as we were."

"How nice."

"Cain," Yuichiro began, "we have to go." He turned towards Lan. "I'm sorry; I have to take care of one more thing, than I have to go home for lunch. I'm going to have to cut this conversation a bit short."

"No problem dad. I have to get my lunch anyway. Don't want to make to make the food cold now, do I?" Yuichiro and Cain nodded then started to walk away. "Goodbye!" Lan exclaimed as he pushed the button to the elevator.

----------

Yuichiro watched Cain as they walked together, now about 50 yards or so away from the SciLab entrance. He didn't show it, but anyone with the power to see into his mind would've seen the raging emotions of a concerned father. He was annoyed at a lot of things, the audacity of this man to peer into his son's business, the sheer disregard he held of his own personal feelings, and, most of all, the nerve of him to even speak of Megaman. He wondered if Cain had gone mad, perhaps forgetting what he had done.

"There's no need for you to be so uptight," Cain said as the two continued walking through Den City in the direction of the Metro Line, "I _was_ only curious to see how they were. No harm done."

_Perhaps he does have the power to read minds,_ Yuichiro thought sarcastically. When he was teaching him, his ability to discern the feelings of others was admirable, a rare human quality that few today could take advantage of. He never imagined that it could be a source of frustration as it was now.

"You know how I feel about that. You made a mistake, one that I can't forgive you for." Yuichiro and Cain turned a corner, putting the Metro Line station into view about 100 yards away. "So don't talk to me about being uptight."

"Old grudges don't help anyone. Besides, your sons are their own persons. They don't need _you_ to tell them who they should stay away from. When they learn more about me, they will decide on their own how to act."

Yuichiro looked away from Cain, instead trying to focus on his surroundings; a young boy eating ice cream across the street; two teenagers net battling in one of the street corners; a father holding his son in his arms, showing him all the wonderful gadgets of an electronics shop. He smiled, remembering those days when he and Lan would walk through the town, not knowing where they were going, just walking, enjoying each other's company.

He remembered the smile on his face when, on one occasion, they encountered a wandering street performer. He would do all sorts of tricks, from juggling balls to performing magic tricks, all without asking anything in return but the happiness of his audience. Lan had already been upset, as most 5-year olds would be, when he accidentally dropped his ice cream on the concrete side walk. The performer saw this and, seeking to comfort him, gave him one of his small blue headbands. He lit up like a light bulb, and since that day wore it every day. He was so distraught when it became too small for him, but was quickly satisfied when his father got him a new, bigger one, this time with the family symbol. Yuichiro couldn't remember a day when he was younger when he didn't wear his headband.

But those days were gone. Lan was an adult now, a good husband, and a diligent worker. It took a lot for Yuichiro to accept the fact that his son had grown up, and even afterwards moments like these occurred where he would like nothing more than to go back to those wonderful memories. Cain had struck a chord with his last words, but probably not in the way he intended. Yuichiro was relieved that he was able to muster this small mental victory against someone like Cain.

The two reached the Metro Line station, with Yuichiro getting a ticket to ACDC and Cain getting a ticket to Electown. The two sat down on a bench to await the arrival of the trains. "Cain," he began, "I'd appreciate it if I didn't hear from you again. Please." A train entered the station in swift fashion: it was the train to Electown. Cain, without uttering a word, got up from his seat and approached the Metro Line turnstile. Yuichiro watched as he entered the train. He might have been seeing things, but it was possible he saw the faint image of Cain laughing as the train pulled away from the station, away from Den City and away from Yuichiro.

----------

Haruka didn't speak. Despite the loud ringing in the kitchen indicating that the food had finished cooking, she heard nothing but the words inside her head. Mayl was going to have a child. Haruka was going to be a grandmother. Her son whom she loved so much was going to become a father. This was good news, but Haruka knew that even the best news could come at the wrong time.

"This... is unexpected," she finally said, breaking the silence. It was no secret that her son was averse to the thought of having children; he had stated it many times before. The news was therefore unexpected, especially considering the amount of care he took in making sure it would never happen. "I thought you two decided--"

"It was a mistake." Mayl was able to look Haruka in the eye now, but she still had a very nervous face. "Lan doesn't know yet. Neither do Roll or Megaman. It must have happened that day... when I came home from your house. I..."

Haruka understood now. And she knew exactly what she was feeling... "Mayl, don't be mad at yourself." She smiled, trying her best to comfort her. "Having a child isn't a bad thing. You should be happy."

"I... I am Haruka, really, but..." she shifted her gaze again, unable to complete the thought.

"I know how Lan feels about this. But trust me, if he loves you, he'll understand."

Mayl seemed to think for a moment. "I guess you're right, but still..."

"He does love you, right?"

"Well, I..."

"I know he does. And you love him. There shouldn't be a problem as long as that's true." Mayl eased up a bit, but it was evident that she was still a bit hesitant. Haruka took a deep breath. She would have to dig a bit deeper if she was going to make Mayl feel better. "Listen to me, Mayl. I haven't told anyone this until now, but..." she paused for a moment to compose herself. "Yuichiro didn't exactly... respond well when he found out I was pregnant with Lan and Hub. In fact..." she tried to keep a straight face, pausing to compose herself further. "In fact, he came close to divorcing me."

"What?" Mayl became alert, replacing her nervous expression with one of puzzlement. She obviously wasn't expecting this.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong now. In fact, we laugh about how young and naïve we were back then. But still..." she paused again, once again looking for the words to stay. "He was dedicated to his work. He was in the middle of his special project. You know, the one that eventually became Megaman?" Mayl nodded. "Anyway, he was frustrated, and one day came home after having a bit too much to drink..." Mayl listened intently as Haruka related the experience in pieces. "I found out a few days later from my doctor... I told Yuichiro, and he erupted. We had a fight, called each other names. You couldn't have found a more hostile couple that night."

Haruka shook her head in contempt. "He went as far as packing his clothes and possessions. He was honestly troubled at the thought of having to raise a child, especially with all the work he was doing. He was weighed down, and I didn't help because I was just as stupid then. We eventually had a long talk about it, and we decided to give it a try. He was good enough for you to marry, so I guess we did a good job." Haruka finally elicited a smile from Mayl. "The point is, Yuichiro and I loved each other, and because of that we were able to resolve our problems, despite how immature we were. If we were able to move on, you and Lan should be able to."

Mayl let out a sigh. She was nervous, but relaxed, putting a smile on her face. "Thank you Haruka. You wouldn't have told me something like this if you didn't trust me. I... I guess we'll be fine."

"I know you will." As she said the words, she recalled something, and then turned around to look at the now-cold pots on the stove. She sighed. "And I forgot to season the potatoes before they finished cooking."

Mayl rolled her eyes, in a much better mood than when the call began. "Don't worry; I won't take up anymore of your time. Thanks for everything, you've been a real help."

Haruka smiled. "Don't worry; I'm glad I can help." The screen on her phone turned off. Haruka took a deep breath, as she bided her time now waiting for her husband to come. _It's an interesting feeling being motherly to a girl when you've been around men all your life._ She chuckled, and then opened one of her favorite books. _A grandchild... _her smile became bigger as she started to read.

----------

The various scraps of paper littering the floor of the house situated on the Electown outskirts shuffled around as a pair of black-clad feet maneuvered its way through. The figure moving through the house made its way to another room, this one with an array of computers and four display screens. Situating himself in a chair facing the displays, Martin Cain went to work.

The display farthest to the left changed as Cain started typing on the keyboard, showing all sorts of letters and numbers, cycling through various pieces of data, until finally stopping at a certain portion of data. Stopping for a moment, Cain shifted his gaze to the display right next to the first, as it too started to change to accommodate the commands given to it by its operator. After a time, the display stopped on a certain portion of data, prompting Cain to move on to the next display.

After doing the same with the third, he looked towards the display farthest to the right, and then performed a few keystrokes. The image on this display differed from the others in that, instead of showing an array of letters and numbers, it showed the image of a cyber world. It was plainly decorated, and was littered with various pieces of data. Cain watched as he saw a navi performing some operations on the data he collected.

"I've looked at the results of your analysis so far." Cain watched as the navi interrupted its work, acknowledging that he had heard his master. "I'm impressed. You exceed my expectations again."

The navi didn't speak for a moment. It returned to performing its analysis before replying. "Thank you. How did the meeting with the SciLab officials go?"

"As I expected. They decided against giving me the resources to complete my project. They said that it was 'unrealistic, and besides that, laced with moral implications.'"

"Indeed. Your prediction was dead on then."

"It was. But no matter. I merely wanted them to know what I was up to. It's only fair, after all." He took a small device from his pocket, a PET, and pressed a few buttons on it, displaying a schedule on the small LCD display. "At this rate, we can finish our problem in a rather short period of time."

"Master Cain." The navi paused for a moment. "Are you sure these are the subjects you want to test it on. The situation involving you and--"

"What better way to test it..." Cain was still looking at the display on his PET, "then to use that navi? A one-of-a-kind gem of modern science."

"But if the test fails?"

Cain answered hastily. "It will not fail. That should be enough assurance for you."

The navi let out a sigh as it fully resumed its analyzing. Cain sat back in his chair, taking a short rest to reenergize himself after all that walking. _Very soon, I'll fill in the final void. _

_Very soon._

----------

Lan was seated on the couch, breathing quicker than usual, thinking to himself. His wife sat across from him, fidgeting slightly, waiting for a response. Megaman and Roll were in the Dell computer, watching intently as the silence permeating the room caused them to become anxious. Not even a few minutes ago, it was like any other day. Lan returned home for work, to the delight of his wife, jacked Megaman into the old computer so he could spend time with Roll, and ate dinner.

However, when he was getting ready to watch some TV and unwind, Mayl stopped him, saying that she had an announcement to make. Lan felt the shock all too suddenly as she made it known that they would soon have a child to take care of. Megaman wasn't stricken nearly as hard, but it was unexpected enough to catch him off-guard. Roll had a feeling something was up when her operator went to the doctor, only to leave her in the dark as to why she went. Her suspicions only increased when she was told to e-mail Lan about something 'important', not knowing what this was. She knew now though, and was almost equally as taken as Megaman was.

Mayl waited a few more seconds for a response from Lan. Despite her talk with Haruka, she couldn't shake the nagging feelings of nervousness she had. Fearing the worst, she spoke first. "Are... Are you mad?"

Lan heard the question, acknowledging it with a look in her direction, followed by a return to his gaze at the floor. The room was silent for another minute, giving Lan enough time to finally respond. "Well," he began, speaking softly and succinctly, "I can't say I'm not surprised." He paused a moment. "I can't say I'm not upset either. I'm still learning to be married, and now I have to learn to be a father too." He paused once again, his expression still sullen. Mayl continued to listen, her heart beating rapidly.

Lan looked Mayl straight in the eye, then smiled. "I also can't say I'm not happy."

Mayl let out the breath she didn't know she was holding, feeling quite relieved. "So you're okay with this?"

"Of course." Lan got up off the couch, walking to where Mayl was sitting. "It'll take some getting used to, but how can I not be happy about the chance to raise a kid with you."

Mayl started to smile. "Thank you Lan. You have no idea how worried I was. I thought that--"

Lan responded by putting his lips on hers. The two embraced tightly, stretching out their kiss over the span of a minute before parting lips. Mayl started to laugh. "It takes some time to sink in."

"What is it?" Lan still had his arms around her.

"We're actually going to be parents. Who would've thought?" The two laughed before locking their lips again.

Megaman watched the events unfold in front of him. The thought of Lan raising a child, the same man who could barely get up on time to go to work, was a bit amusing. But at the same time, Lan was a caring person, always concerned about others. He decided that, when all is said and done, Lan would do well as a father. And he'd be there with his operator, helping him whenever he was needed, side-by-side...

Megaman let out a small sigh, which Roll noticed. She went in front of Megaman, observing his lamenting expression. "Are you okay Mega?" she asked softly.

Megaman focused his attention on Roll, and realized that he was getting lost in thought again. He smiled. "It's nothing Roll, really." He saw Roll turn around to face the display showing the view of the living room from the computer.

"They really do love each other a lot."

He didn't anticipate the change of subject, but he responded quickly enough. "Yeah, they do."

Roll walked over to Megaman slowly, putting her arms around his shoulders. "They can _almost_ compare to us, right Mega?" She let out a soft chuckle, kissing Megaman passionately before he could reply.

The rest of the night was far from normal, as Lan hastily sought to tell everyone he could about Mayl's wonderful news, while Mayl decided to look up more information on the net. A sense of content filled the air as more and more people learned of Lan and Mayl's new arrival, and as all of them anticipated the events of the days to come...


	6. Blood Red Duel, Part One

So here we are, chapter 6. The story will be getting a bit more interesting at this point, and I think you'll all like it. It's good to know people like my story. It motivates me to continue, which is good because I'm notorious for not finishing projects. Fortunately, I see no reason why I won't finish this story, barring problems on my end. I'll continue to update consistently until the story is finished, and then see where I go from there.

And Anime Master ZERO, asking questions and speculating is okay. It isn't like I have every absolute detail of the story planned out yet (though the main plot has been generally intact so far), so questions help me see if there are any details I may have omitted or such. Anyway, I'm done talking, time for chapter 6, which will be a slight detour in our story

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 6: Blood Red Duel, Part One

Eugene Chaud waited patiently in front of the small laptop computer. The display on the machine was littered with dialog boxes indicating the execution of various programs, all by Chaud's instigation. Almost all of them were of his making, but at this point he had little hope that any of these programs would help him with his investigation.

That's because this would be the fifth time he's run these programs.

A little more than three months had passed since he took Lan's computer. Though he had discovered the composition of the virus that had allowed access during his presentation, he was unable to find anything more. He had dispatched various official navis to look for the mysterious red navi in the camera program's feed, as well as the net dealer who had sold the virus in the first place, the description of whom was given by Roll, though she remained ignorant of calamity that had taken place.

Both searches turned up nothing. He spent the next few weeks investigating the data on the computer but found nothing. Thus he made the decision to officially suspend the investigation pending any new information. Since then he's only spent one or two days a week performing tests on the computer, with nothing to show for it. Today was one of those days, and the programs, upon completion, displayed the same results.

After letting out a sigh, Chaud closed all the programs, and then turned off the laptop. He put it away, and then went over to his own office computer, where he observed Protoman sitting idly.

The red navi stood up upon his operator's presence. "What were the results?" he asked coldly.

"Nothing." Just like that the two were silent. There were no more pressing matters to take care of at the moment, so he determined to use the time to rest himself. The office he was in was a large box-like room in the core of the Electopian Government Complex. The location served itself for secrecy, but besides that, the seclusion helped Chaud to become more relaxed. The walls were bare for the exception of a few important pictures Chaud kept for his investigations. The decorum of the room itself was just as sparse, sporting only a small plant in one of the corners. His workstation was situated at the center of the room, consisting of two desks side-by-side; one held his computer and a lamp, the room's only source of light besides the PCs, and the other desk held his important documents and items from his duties as Chief Official.

Chaud sat back in his chair and stared at the vanilla-white ceiling. He let his mind wander around a bit, hoping to ease himself of his stress. He was an excellent computer programmer, and an even better detective. He cringed slightly at the thought of this current case. Chaud always solved the mysteries set before him, no matter how elusive the criminal was, and yet here he was, working on the investigation without any hope of resolution. He was the chief, and as such couldn't let anyone get the best of him.

Chaud cringed again at the thought. He was the chief, but he knew that it almost didn't end up that way… that a certain someone had almost taken the position instead of him…

"Master Chaud, someone is attempting access." Chaud's thoughts were cut short at Protoman's words. The young man sat up straight in his chair, then let out a chuckle. His co-called 'relaxation' techniques only got him more upset than he was before. Unsurprised, Chaud made a few keystrokes, causing a window on the computer screen to pop up.

The window showed one of the paths in the net leading to his computer. On it, he saw the image of a navi, normal class, bearing the insignia of the net officials. The man smiled slyly; he had been expecting him. "Let him in," He said quietly to Protoman.

The red navi immediately performed some work on his end, transporting the official directly into his computer. The normal navi bowed before Protoman, then went to the view port in the cyber world where Chaud's image was. "I've come with news regarding the red navi."

Chaud didn't show any emotion in his countenance, but his mind went through a short relief period before it was able to calculate a reply. "I'm listening."

The navi stood silent for a moment, eliciting an irritated look for the chief. "I don't have all day."

It continued silently for another moment. Then, before Chaud could say another word, it spoke. "The news is…" he paused, and then put his gaze on Protoman, "he's not happy with what you two are doing."

Chaud and Protoman only needed a second to ascertain what was going on. "Protoman, close the connection!"

Before the silver-haired navi could move, he felt the force of a hard punch on his back. The normal navi stood where Protoman had been and started to laugh. "All too easy." He stated between chuckles, this time in a much younger-sounding voice. He made a few motions with his hands, before the armor surrounding him turned white, morphing into another shape. When it returned to its original color, Chaud was looking at a completely different navi. The same one that the camera program on Lan's computer had picked up!

"It's amazing how careless you were." The navi spoke in a low but frightfully confident tone of voice, and seemed to always be frowning. The red navi was, in fact, not completely red, but mostly black. Except for his human-looking face, he was surrounded by a sleek ensemble of armor. His black helmet was highlighted by two red crests protruding from his forehead, rounding the helmet. Above where the two crests on the forehead met was a large aqua-colored centerpiece. On the sides of his head were two red and white wing-like extensions. His forearms, lower legs, and feet were surrounded by thick red armor pieces, with golden-colored rings acting as ankle and wrist guards. His torso and the rest of his body had thinner, black armor plating with white highlights in various places. His chest had what looked like a red vest surrounding it. The most distinguishing part of the navi, however, was the long, flowing golden hair protruding from behind his helmet.

Chaud watched the navi, amazed at the care and precision taken into crafting the model. He had been careless, so excited by the fact that he would be able to advance the case that he neglected to even verify that the navi was even an official. Now he was going to pay for it.

Chaud attempted to type on his keyboard, but the computer didn't respond to any input made. The black and red navi waved a finger at him. "Nice try. I've already disabled all the input devices on your computer. And to think the virus checker didn't even bother to check the piece of code I executed."

Expressionless, the chief thought frantically. He couldn't close the connection, and Protoman wasn't able to-- He focused his attention on that last thought. He couldn't do anything to help Protoman!

The red navi turned his gaze as he heard Protoman stand up, still hurting from the last blow he made. "The program will soon render your computer completely useless. As such, my mission here is done." He turned away to face the open connection on the cyber world's ground, and walked towards it.

"Stop right there." The red navi turned towards Protoman, who had his red sword held straight in front of him. "I will not let you leave." Protoman looked straight at the unmoving enemy. Without a word, the enemy started walking again.

Angry, Protoman jumped into the air, over the red navi's head, and then in front of the open connection. He put his sword straight ahead again. "I told you I won't let you leave." He stood still, awaiting a reply from the red navi.

He stood silently, merely gazing straight the black visor in front of his adversary's eyes. "If your presence prevents me from fulfilling my duties," he began, "then my only choice is to remove your presence."

Protoman let out a confident smile. "Good luck," he said sarcastically.

"Don't lose Protoman." Chaud watched as his navi readied himself for battle. "I should have officials here to back you up in minutes."

"No problem." He moved his hands behind him, preparing for a possible first strike. "What's your name, navi?"

The enemy navi merely stood motionless, watching his adversary closely. "I have no _name,_ so to speak. I am merely the one who accomplishes my master's purpose."

Protoman and Chaud were taken aback by the strange reply. "You have no name at all?"

"No name… but I do have an alias, one given to me by those who work with me." He paused, and then walked up towards Protoman, causing him to stagger back in defense. "They refer to me… as Zero." With that, the navi jumped into the air, distancing himself from Protoman and, with a newly formed blaster formed on his right arm, fired a powerful yellow shot.

Protoman's incredible reflexes were only barely fast enough to form a shield to block the extremely swift strike of his enemy. He kept the shield formed as Zero continued the assault with a volley of powerful blaster shots, all fired from the air. Protoman jumped to his left, attempting to strafe his opponent. The shots hit precisely where Protoman was situated barely half a second earlier. The shots themselves were quick, appearing merely as a blur to his well-trained eyes.

In one quick motion, Proto man reversed his direction, strafing to his right this time. There was a small hiccup in Zero's attack pattern, but it regulated itself before Protoman could even begin to think about a way to exploit it. The only holes in his attack were the small periods when he was on the ground and propelling himself in the air again, but these were so short they made only a small difference in the timing.

"He's… he's too fast," Protoman said as he continued to dodge Zero's attack.

Chaud studied the battle, apprehensive now that he knew the navi's identity. He silently cursed at himself for not recognizing the form before, the same navi that had caused so much trouble as a virus. The same navi that Lan and Megaman had defeated. As an official he had been forced to remove all digital record of his existence, with Megaman and Protoman opting to erase their memories of him. But why was he causing trouble now? There was never hint of hostility when he withdrew, and he definitely didn't have any 'master' at that point either.

Regardless, Chaud was seeing first hand the strength this navi possessed, and Protoman was trying his best to evade his attacks. He continued to watch the battle, formulating a strategy in his mind. "Protoman, I'm connecting my PET in and sending a battle chip." He pressed some buttons on his PET, connecting it to his computer wirelessly. He took a battle chip and slid it into the PET. "He can't control his movement while he's in the air."

Protoman nodded, taking note of the chip he was going to use. Putting his shield up, he immediately stopped, experiencing a powerful barrage of yellow blasts. His shield was only able to block a portion of the power, with the rest directly damaging the navi itself. He quickly used the battle chip Chaud gave him, maneuvering its position, taking note of the enemy's movements. Zero took one more jump moving forward towards Protoman. Upon landing, he immediately felt it. He quickly made a low, long lunge to his side to avoid the mine's explosion, the battle chip Chaud had downloaded. He landed hard on the ground, and quickly got up to move away. He wasn't in time though, as Protoman quickly moved to where he was, hitting him with a long slash from his red blade.

Zero was propelled back, landing roughly as he rolled around on the ground before stopping. He slowly got up, evidently damaged from the attack. "You're reputation precedes you Chief Official."

Protoman kept his sword out. "Don't underestimate me. You're accurate, fast, powerful, and have top-notch reflexes. But even the best navis will fall if their strategy can be countered."

"You speak wisely, enemy. Nevertheless." Zero stood still, reaching behind his back. "You'll do well not to underestimate me." In his right hand appeared a white rod. "I'm looking forward to seeing your skill… with a sword." Suddenly, a bright light protruded from the rod, forming itself into a long green blade which Zero held in front of him.

Protoman apparently welcomed the challenge as he took a step forward. The two were now ready, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Chaud watched the two stand silently, using the battle to relax himself. After a minute of stillness, both of the red navis lunged towards each other, swinging their swords at the other to begin their duel.


	7. Blood Red Duel, Part Two

Sees a bunch of people walk away because the fic hasn't been updated in two months NO! DON'T LEAVE PLEAAASE!! L I'm sorry for not updating, really I am. I just had to… there were some things… A few things happened… ah screw it. I said I'm going to finish this story, and I don't plan on quitting. What sucks is that I left you all at a very bad spot (in the middle of a heated battle actually). Let's hope that whatever little writing skills I had in the first place haven't gone rusty and continue this story, shall we?

And as a note, I keep forgetting that Megaman Network Transmission exists, so that was a continuity error on my part (I despise continuity errors, especially when referring to games). Fortunately, it didn't take too much editing to evade this new development. Reread chapter 6 if you're all so worried about it. Anyway, let's start now with chapter 7!

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A Paradigm's Dawn

Chapter 7: Blood Red Duel, Part Two

Chaud winced slightly as the light resulting from the red and green collision filled the computer screen for a split second. He noticed a few artifacts on-screen, a result of some glitches in the observation program used to display the fight. By impulse he set out to fix the display, only to be reminded that he no longer had any control over his PC… he could only watch as the two red navis on screen battled with each other.

Protoman jumped back, recoiling from the powerful swing of Zero's green blade. His own red blade countered it, but the sheer force his opponent exhibited threatened to overtake him in mere seconds. Without delay Zero jumped towards the retreating navi and swung his blade again, cutting through empty space as Protoman ducked, countering with the thrust of his own weapon.

Zero sidestepped quickly, narrowly avoiding the red energy, then parried the follow-up attack as Protoman swung his blade upwards towards his right hand, the hand holding his weapon. With a quick motion he planted his left foot on the forearm of his opponent, knocking the blade away from the path of his own, freeing it for a counterattack.

Protoman scurried backwards away from the range of his enemy's blade, then stood up, readying himself for another attack. His opponent lunged towards him again, swinging underhanded to prevent another counterattack. The silver-haired navi parried the attack, moving back to lessen the impact of the blow before moving his blade below his waist to parry another blow, then retreated some more. After blocking four more such attacks of varying direction, he moved to the side for a counterattack, only to feel the force of the green blade pushing against his own.

Zero pushed with increasing force, unflinching in his expression, forcing Protoman back into a guard stance, upon which he lunged forward to begin another series of attack. Each strike succeeded the next with deadly speed and force, no two similar in either respect. Nevertheless, he noted the accuracy that Protoman exhibited, successfully blocking each and every strike as if he knew what was coming.

Zero retreated, easing off his attack. He noted his opponent's endurance and reaction time. _I may have to implement a better strategy…_

Protoman kept his distance from his opponent, now in a defensive stance, slightly surprised at the sudden change of pace. _Zero is agile, and is deadly with his weapon. Not even Megaman was able to attack me as effectively. And if he was able to defeat me…_ Protoman readied himself, attempting to form his own counterattack.

Chaud watched the battle, observing the movements of the two navis. He looked at this watch, noting that backup officials were taking longer than usual to reach him. Unfortunately, he and Protoman were the only two in the office building by the time Zero had infiltrated his computer. It would take some time for the backup to come to his aide.

It seemed to Chaud that things were getting worse when he observed Zero taking a very familiar stance…

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"Sir, we still can't get the door open."

"Keep it up. The Chief needs our help, so we need to get into that building as soon as possible." The top official watched in impatience as his subordinates attempted to open the doors leading to the Net Battle Officials Building. The effort was in chaos, but no one had prepared for such an occurrence, nor did they believe locking out the building was possible in the first place. Nevertheless, they worked furiously, and found themselves close to getting in. The only question is if they would get in in time…

"Sir," the top official listened as the man beside him spoke. "We can't e-mail the Chief's PET. It's currently involved in a net battle!"

"A net battle?" _Who could have the audacity to challenge Protoman to a net battle?_ "Have you tried e-mailing his PC?"

"We're working on it as we speak. We're still trying to establish a secure connection, but it's difficult unless we get inside. It should take no more than a few minutes."

"I don't think we have a few minutes…" the official stood in silence for a moment. "Carry on. We need to contact the Chief by any means necessary."

"Yes sir." The man walked away, leaving the official to himself. He then continued to direct the opening of the doors, hoping to himself that whatever was going on inside wasn't too much for Chaud.

----------

Protoman stood in disbelief as he noted the stance Zero took. His opponent held his sword pointing downward, away from his body, his head and torso leaning forward. His hands gripped the green blade with a visible toughness. "Chaud!" he yelled.

His expression unmoving, the chief responded coldly. "I know… I don't know how, but he seems to be preparing his 'alternative' strategy. Attacking him now would be fruitless."

"Yes. Anything I throw at him will be easily countered. But how can he do that without the help of battle chips?"

"I don't--" Chaud paused as the realization came to him. All this time he had assumed Zero was attacking alone, as he had in the past. Yet this Zero spoke of a master, someone he was working for… he had never been able to close the now-open connection to his PC, which means… "Protoman, I don't think Zero is working alone."

Protoman noticed a wince on Zero's part. "Nobody should be able to have access--" Protoman paused, remembering the open connection. "I see. An oversight on our part."

_Yes, a major oversight_. Both Chaud and Protoman flinched at the sudden new voice. _I was beginning to think I could get away with this without even an inquiry into my identity. _The voice seemed to come from a young man, probably not much older than Chaud himself.

"Show yourself, operator." Chaud hadn't a decent lead in this case for months, so he wasn't going to let this opportunity slip away.

_In due time Chief Official. For now though, you're interrupting with my navi's escape. But that won't last for much longer. Zero…_

Protoman focused on Zero not a second too soon, as the red navi lunged towards him with remarkable speed. He watched his opponent, attempting to anticipate his movements… and in an instant the figure of Zero was gone, replaced with nothing but empty space. Protoman rotated quickly to his right, just in time to parry a quick slash from a green blade. Without hesitation, he rotated his left, soon parrying a similar slash, then ducked a slight amount, blocking a third slash from above him. The small red navi soon appeared some distance away from him, sword in hand.

Protoman attempted to stand upright, but found his energy draining. The amount of speed and power needed to repel the attack was enough to tax his systems. Fortunately, he had time before his opponent could execute a similar attack. Almost as the thought crossed his mind, Zero began to move towards him again, once again disappearing before the two locked blades.

The silver-haired navi almost didn't respond… the first attack was parried just barely, with the other two blocked easily as Protoman regained his composure. He felt more energy drained from him, still surprised from the quick counterattack… _How--_ Before he could even think about what happened, Zero was moving towards him again, performing the same attack, with Protoman blocking the swings, yet losing stamina from the continued assault.

Chaud watched on, angry at the events playing out before him, yet his expression remained solemn. Without a word, Chaud took out a battle chip and placed it into his PET, uploading the data into his PC. Zero began moving towards Protoman again, but before he could begin a fourth attack, a large white aura appeared around his opponent.

"Chaud…" Protoman fell to the ground, using his hands to keep from falling completely. Zero watched on as he attempted to break through this new barrier, but without success.

"Your attacks won't pierce the life aura." Chaud watched on as Zero attempted to break the shield. "I programmed the delta ray edge, and am well aware that while it does a large amount of damage altogether, each individual strike is not strong enough to break such a defense by itself."

_You are no less capable than I've heard, Eugene Chaud. _Chaud became annoyed at the mocking use of his name. _But your life aura will not last forever. You have merely delayed the inevitable… and as for your so-called officials…_

"What about my officials?" He became angry at the thought that this person could be the cause of this delay.

_They won't be helping you, especially if they aren't even capable of entering the building._

"You little…" Chaud calmed himself down. He didn't get where he was by acting irrationally. He closed his eyes and tried to think. Protoman isn't going to hold his own for long and the life aura won't last much longer. As he tried to formulate a strategy, he was interrupted by a soft beeping sound coming from his PET. Surprised, he picked up the device and found that he had been sent a new e-mail from the team of reinforcements.

Chaud then noticed the small caption that came along with the message: 'Tunneled through PC'. Wait a second… "Protoman," Chaud stated quickly as he closed the e-mail on his PET and began to work furiously, "Do everything you can to make sure Zero doesn't escape. I'll have the connection closed quickly." He took the cord from his keyboard and connected it to his PET, beginning to type furiously.

Zero stood silent for a moment before he realized what was going on. He began to head towards the open portal on the far side of the virtual cyber world before Proto Man appeared in front of him.

"I won't let you go." Protoman took a ready stance, ignoring the fact that his life aura had begun to die out.

"Without your defense? If you wish to take such a foolhardy risk, I won't stop you." Zero also took a ready stance, and then lunged towards his opponent to perform the delta ray edge. Protoman blocked each attack successfully, preventing him from moving forward any further.

Chaud continued to type away as Protoman continued defending against Zero's onslaught. It was only a matter of time now. Zero would be caught, and they'd finally be able to figure out how he was able to infiltrate SciLab so easily. He finished typing and saved the result on his PET. "Protoman, I'm ready. I--" Chaud was silenced as he watched the scene before him.

Zero lunged towards Protoman again, starting his delta ray edge. Protoman attempted to block the first strike, only to realize that he was too slow. The attack pierced him on his right side, leaving him open to both strikes from his other side and above. Now stunned by the success of the attack, Zero followed up with his own series of attacks, each one more powerful than the last, crippling Protoman and causing him to collapse to the ground. Zero went in for the kill…

Protoman watched as the small red navi held his blade an inch away from his cracked faceplate… "You have lost…" Zero stated solemnly as he stood poised, ready to strike at the slightest movement.

Chaud kept his expression solemn, though notably angry that he hadn't finished fast enough. "Don't even try Zero. The program I have here will be downloaded to my PC and run, just like a battle chip. It'll make sure you have no chance of getting out of here."

Zero continued to stand silently, unflinching in his stance. "Then I have been bested." Chaud began to breathe a sigh of relief at the navi's words "I suppose then I can only finish what I've started… by deleting Protoman."

Chaud couldn't help it this time. His face became angry at his realization: he was fully capable of running his program, but he was unable to do anything for Protoman during that time. "You… Such underhanded tactics."

"I am only trying to complete my mission. My master's plans will be severely compromised if I am not allowed to leave. So you understand, I have no choice. Of course, seeing as your PET can interface with your PC just fine, there shouldn't be a problem with jacking out your friend."

"Chaud!" Protoman lay still on the floor of the PC. "If you jack me out now you won't be able to run the program. Don't worry what happens to me. The most important objective must be accomplished."

Chaud stood silent, trying to think of an alternative. Zero's operator couldn't jack him out, or else he would've done so already… the two navis watched Chaud intently for the next minute, waiting for his inevitable action. After what seemed like an eternity. Chaud lifted his PET into view. "As the chief net battle official of Electopia, I can only do what I feel is the best course of action." With that, he closed his eyes, and pressed a button on his PET.

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I hate cliffhangers. I am also a hypocrite ;)


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